Ken Gross on Practical Law Segment 1 of 3

Financial Crisis Talk Center – You Need a Goal (The Mike & Rita Story)

Ken Gross appears on Practical Law

Bloomfield Cablevision (Channnel 16) in Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township

Friday November 20, 2009 8:30 PM
Saturday November 22,2009 9:30 PM

Ken Gross appears as a guest and discusses Financial Crisis Management – the Plight of Michiganers. Practical Law is hosted by Henry Gornbein.

In the Detroit News …….

Small business spotlight: Economy redefines law firm’s focus
Practice thrives by shifting to tax cases, bankruptcies in crisis
Karen Dybis / Special to The Detroit News

It’s Business 101: When a practice area of your law firm suddenly becomes its sole focus, it’s time to revise your business plan.

That is exactly what Ken Gross and law firm Thav, Gross, Steinway & Bennett PC have done in light of the state and national economic crisis.

Previously, a quarter of the firm’s practice centered on bankruptcy and tax collection. Today, it makes up the majority of its business.

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To handle the sharp increase in these areas, the Bingham Farms firm has developed a Financial Crisis Management practice, added new tools for its attorneys to use and modernized its marketing strategy to get the word out.

The result is a vibrant practice that has attracted new clients, both individuals and corporations, said co-founder Ken Gross.

For businesses, Thav Gross creates strategies that tackle delinquent taxes and problems resulting from banks withholding or not renewing lines of credit. For individuals, the firm has designed new programs to help with loan modifications, debt resolution, bankruptcy protection and tax relief.

“Since 2007, we saw the writing on the wall,” Gross said. “Everything in the world felt unreal; people needed guidance.”

Nearly three dozen law firms nationwide have added similar practice areas, according to legal observers. Making this new practice area successful depends on whether you are an expert in financial issues and how well you have connected with clients both past and present, said Tom Kane, a former practicing attorney and principal of Kane Consulting, Inc., a legal marketing consulting firm in Sarasota, Fla.

“Legal marketing is all about relationships,” Kane said. “And before a relationship develops to the point where the prospective client trusts that you are capable of helping them, they have to reach a level of comfort about your talents as they relate to them and their issues.”
Clients get custom service

What makes the Thav Gross approach different than other credit-management services is its mix of services, Gross said. Every client’s situation is analyzed independently and only the appropriate products or solutions are used.

This is especially important in Michigan, Gross said. Consider this: more than one-third of all mortgage loans are underwater and people’s retirement accounts have taken serious hits in light of recent automotive bankruptcies.

“The economic crisis has cost us asset value and left us debt,” Gross said. “Our goal is to find how we can leverage your future so your income is working for you, not going toward your debt.”

To gain the public’s attention, Gross took his crisis-management services to the airwaves. In November 2008, he and partner David Einstandig started the “Financial Crisis Talk Center,” which airs at 9 a.m. Saturdays on radio station WDFN-AM 1130. They take questions and address major issues, including those surrounding Congress, Wall Street and the credit-card industry.

The firm also has a strong online presence with four Web sites. One focuses on the firm itself while the others ( www.StopTaxDebt.com, www.StopCreditorCalls.com and www.FinancialCrisisTalkCenter.com) center around the firm’s new financial crisis management division.

This Internet-based marketing provides “meaningful content and information to the public without the high cost of delivery existing in conventional media,” Gross said.

Thav, Gross, Steinway & Bennett PC was formed in 1982. Its 14 attorneys and support staff specialize in business and litigation matters for both people and companies.

Gross is the firm’s managing shareholder. He received his undergraduate degrees and his law degree from Wayne State University.

Karen Dybis is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.

Michigan Entreprenuer Interview

Tara Kachaturoff interview Ken Gross

October 5, 2009 by Admin
Filed under Upcoming Programs on METV

Ken Gross, Managing Shareholder, Thav Gross Steinway & Bennett appears on Michigan Entrepreneur on Tuesday 11.03.09 11:00 a.m. and Thursday 11.05.09 7:00 p.m.

TGSB In the News

Buy Michigan Now – Going Forward Presentation

FCTC Story in Oakand County Legal News

Money Mind–

Attorney has his finger on area’s financial pulse

By Debra Talcott

Legal News

Clients reap the benefits of his advice in the Bingham Farms offices of Thav, Gross, Steinway & Bennett. WDFN listeners tune in to his Saturday morning radio program, “The Financial Talk Center.” Workout buddies look for him at the Sports Club of West Bloomfield. Wherever he goes, attorney Ken Gross is happy to share his views on the current economic crisis and recession.

“Part of my practice as a business lawyer has been to address problems individuals and businesses face from a financial perspective,” says Gross. “Today’s problems are different from those of the past because people and businesses have lost the equity cushion in all real estate holdings. To add insult to injury, banks refuse to lend money, and credit card companies have slashed credit lines.”

Gross, who was born in Detroit and raised in Oak Park, took a rather circuitous route to becoming an attorney, but his divergent path was beneficial to his practice of business law and commercial litigation. After completing his freshman year at Michigan State University, he moved to Minnesota and worked as a teaching tennis professional and manager of an indoor tennis facility while attending college part time.

“The time spent working allowed me to adopt a business approach to school when I returned to Michigan,” explains Gross.

After earning his bachelor’s in business administration at Wayne State University, Gross attended Wayne’s law school.

“I look back at school with fond memories of accomplishment,” says Gross. “But I realize now that, at the time, I was too young and hungry to enjoy the flexibility and wide range of freedom that is afforded a student. Instead, I was in too big a hurry to complete school and begin a career,” he admits.

From early school years, the young Gross was the student others viewed as the future lawyer. Active in Student Council and never one to shy away from a debate, Gross gravitated to the profession, always intending to practice business law, which has been the focus of his practice for 27 years. Now, however, his practice emphasizes financial crisis management.

“The landscape for legal work in our community has changed dramatically. Real estate as a business no longer exists. Virtually every developer has been either put out of business or is forced to sit on the sideline and wait until a turnaround occurs,” says Gross. “The automotive industry, inclusive of the tier one, two, and three suppliers, is in a state of shock with the fallout from the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies,” he adds, explaining that legal work today is all about assisting business clients to stay in business.

The legal work of overseeing mergers, acquisitions, and real estate development–all part of a thriving economy–is currently nonexistent in Michigan.

Not one to mince words when it comes to talking about the credit card companies, Gross admits he “gets a kick” out of pushing the credit card companies as far as he can to negotiate debt resolution for a client.

“Just yesterday I was able to negotiate a $16,500 American Express balance down to $3,500 payable over three months,” says Gross. “In two calls, [the representative] went from $16,500 to $9,000 to $5,000 to $3,500. The wide range of abuse credit card companies were able to put over on the American public for so long is a classic example of what is wrong with our lobby-based system of government.”

Admitting that the credit card legislation slated to take effect in February 2010 is a positive step, Gross says he is, however, concerned about the actions the companies are likely to take in the ensuing nine months.

“Increased fees, reduced lines of credit, and increased interest rates are coming in the next few months,” Gross predicts.

Once this legislation becomes law, credit card companies will not be allowed to increase rates unless a cardholder is 60 days behind in payments. However, this protection applies only to consumers, making Gross suspicious that the industry will find ways to make money from business owners.

“I’m fearful the industry will walk around it by issuing a card to a business with a personal guaranty from its owner–and in that setting, the new law will not apply,” explains Gross.

Another area Gross’s firm excels in is assisting clients with delinquent tax problems. He explains that tax problems typically reside in two arenas: individuals who owe outstanding income taxes and business
owners who are delinquent in payroll taxes and are facing assessment for federal and state taxes and penalties for the unpaid portion of withholding taxes that are deducted from their employees’ paychecks.

“Under federal law there is an opportunity to compromise unpaid tax liabilities through an Offer In Compromise which allows a taxpayer to pay a small portion of the tax liability in full satisfaction of the debt,” explains Gross.

In such cases, Thav, Gross, Steinway & Bennett will arrange payment agreements for their clients to pay taxes over extended payment terms to avoid seizure of assets, closure of a business, or levies against wages.

When a client is in collection at the federal level, the process of negotiating payment terms requires the firm to contact the IRS. Gross credits partner Charles Thav, who has been handling such issues for 40 years, with a strategy that has worked time and again.

“I was sitting in his office one day, and he was beginning a telephone conversation with a collection officer. Suddenly, in mid-sentence, he hung up. When I asked why he’d done that, Thav replied, ‘I could tell he was going to be unreasonable, so when that happens, I hang up and call the 800 number back and keep calling until I speak with someone who sounds reasonable before I tell the agent the name of the client I am representing.’”

Gross laughed, but when he watched his senior partner call again and negotiate a successful payment arrangement with another agent, he became a believer.

“These are the type of strategies you don’t learn in a textbook or seminar,” he chuckles.

In a recent airing of his radio program, Gross spoke with guest Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, who represents Michigan’s 11th District. In their discussion of the “automotive apocalypse” that has radically changed U.S. manufacturing, Gross explained to the Congressman that the effects of automotive bankruptcies pose difficulties for citizens beyond those who directly work for an auto company or a supplier.

“The U.S. Treasury is calling the shots, and the outcome is difficult for dealers who are losing their livelihoods and for personal injury plaintiffs whose cases are being dismissed,” observed Gross.

Gross’s partner and co-host on the show, David Einstandig, explained that in representing a local dealership he sat at the Chrysler bankruptcy hearings for four days and learned that the Treasury was not the entity that required closure of dealerships. While the press has reported that “underperforming” dealerships were those that did not have their contracts renewed, Gross and Einstandig maintain that is not necessarily the case.

“Dealers had been strong-armed into taking more inventory to help the company, with a promise that the company would stand by them. The next thing you know, Chrysler files its Chapter 11, and 14 days later they send letters to 789 dealers, many of whom were long standing and profitable, notifying them that their dealership is terminated. To add ‘injury to insult,’ neither Chrysler nor the government offered to buy back the vehicle inventory.”

When Ken Gross is not helping business clients and consumers tackle their financial problems, he enjoys his life with wife Bonnie in the Farmington Hills neighborhood where they have lived for the past 20 years. The couple is proud of their two daughters, both of whom followed their father’s freshman year green-and-white footsteps by attending Michigan State University.

“Amy, who is 26, graduated from MSU as an English major and resides in Tel Aviv, where she works as a recruiter for a program that provides internships in Israel for college graduates. Jennifer, 21, is a senior at MSU and plans to become an elementary school teacher,” Gross explains.

With their daughters pursuing their own goals, the Grosses have been known to enjoy cruising the Eastern Caribbean. They also have another female family member on whom to dote–their Cairn Terrier MacyMoo.

“She watches television with us, and any time she sees another animal, she goes crazy, barking and crashing the television screen then scurrying around the house looking for her newfound friend,” Gross quips.

While Gross devotes time to family, friends, and his own fitness routine, a major part of his life is focused on helping people realize that their current financial troubles are not their fault and that they are not alone.

“I tell people to look to the left and look to the right. Two of the three of them are in financial distress,” says Gross. “It’s unfair, and I’m angry this has happened to us. Nobody had any way of predicting the real estate market would melt down and that the value of our homes would be 60 percent of what it was two years ago.”

Encouraging his radio audience to be proactive rather than embarrassed by their financial struggles, Gross advised listeners that have lost the equity in their homes to shed as much debt as they possibly can.

“Your responsibility to yourself and your family is to go forward,” he says. “You should not leverage your future to pay for your past.”

Published:6/25/09

You Won't Hear Me Say ….

June 11, 2009

You won’t hear me sing, Happy Birthday Mr. President

By Colleen McDonald

In 1999, at age 30, I became president of our family business — Livonia Chrysler Jeep, Century Dodge and Holiday Chevrolet – well known and respected throughout the Metro Detroit community. I was a female entering a “men’s club.” Over the years, our Chrysler dealerships were 5 Star, with outstanding reviews on the manufacturer and dealer levels.

Fall 2008, the housing market crashes and the Financial Crisis takes hold. Banks stop loaning money and sales tumble for all manufacturers. Support, however, for the banking industry, which toppled our economy – is unyielding. The Auto Industry, however, is forced to beg. During this process, Chrysler dealers are virtually forced to purchase more inventory by Chrysler management. We were told, we’re in this together and if we take the inventory the Company will stand by us.

On April 20, 2009, Chrysler files its Chapter 11. Our president states, “I stand with Chrysler’s employees and their families and communities. I stand with Chrysler’s management, its dealers, and its suppliers.” The president explains to us that the only reason why Chrysler had to file bankruptcy was that a limited number of secured lenders refused to comply with the program approved by the major lenders. The president makes it clear that but for these few lenders, the bankruptcy would not have been filed. The following week, those few hold-out secured lenders capitulate and agree to withdraw their objection.

Twenty-four days after the filing, on May 14, 2009, my worst nightmare becomes reality when I learn both of our dealerships are among the 789 dealers to close. Not only terminated, but we are told we will receive no compensation, we must close the business by June 9 and Chrysler will not buy back our inventory. My dealerships are profitable, state of the art, modern and well respected. All of which, along with the lifelong effort of my family, now means nothing. The reality is that I was terminated because I was not “one of the guys.” On May 15, I received another letter informing me that my Chevrolet dealership would be terminated.

I attended the hearing in the Bankruptcy Court last week in New York and testified as to the utter unfairness as to what transpired. Robert Nardelli, Chrysler’s CEO, testified that reduction in dealers was needed due to training, specialty tools and subsidized incentive financing costs. Mr. Nardelli is wrong. The dealers are the ones who pay for the training and specialty tools, and subsidized incentive financing has nothing to do with dealers. I was also shocked to learn that Chrysler and GM, through the bankruptcy process will avoid paying its liability for cars under the lemon laws, as well as personal injury claims. These consumer victims will have no remedy.

I have a question and demand an answer. If, as the president stated on April 20, 2009, the only reason Chrysler filed the bankruptcy was due to those few hold-out lenders and one week into the bankruptcy those “other lenders” capitulated and agreed to the terms … then why did Chrysler have to proceed with the dealer closings under the power of the bankruptcy laws? Once those hold-out banks gave in, the president should have directed the bankruptcy to be dismissed. Chrysler would then have had to negotiate fair and square with the dealerships it wanted to close, and would not have been able to use the bankruptcy laws to shun itself of its legal obligations.

I’m an American. I pay my taxes. My country has used taxpayer money to put me out of business at the whim of Chrysler’s executives with the support of the Treasury. Since when is our government allowed to use taxpayer money to fund private business in such a deplorable manner? What did I do to deserve this fate from my country?

So you can count on two things. I will not sing, “Happy Birthday Mr. President,” and Camelot has not returned.

Colleen McDonald, president of Livonia Jeep Chrysler and Century Dodge with the loyal assistance of her attorneys, David Einstandig and Ken Gross, attorneys with Thav, Gross, Steinway & Bennett, PC, practicing in the Detroit area and co-hosts of The Financial Crisis Talk Center, a radio program that airs weekly at 9 AM on Saturday mornings on WDFN 1130 AM.

Where to Find Help if In Financial Crisis….

FACING DESPAIR? .. YOU’RE NOT ALONE AND YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF TO LEARN AND FIND OUT WHAT YOU CAN DO …

• there are solutions to Credit Card Debt …
• there are solutions to save your home and fight for a real loan modification…
• there are solutions if you owe federal or state taxes..

LEARN WITH US .. AND POST YOUR COMMENTS, QUESTIONS AND IDEAS

VISIT WITH US AT:

www.stopcreditorcalls.com
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